I ENJOYED A memorable encounter this weekend. It occurred while I was walking home from camp, and it involved a young couple, the only two people I met all morning out in the snowy woods. We didn’t speak for long – less than five minutes – but the exchange was unforgettable. It was heart-warming at […]
IT’S FASCINATING TO ME how ‘green’ summer can look when viewed from the far distance of winter. Apparently, the grass is greener on the other side of the year! I took the photos in this blog early on a July morning on the eastern edge of the ‘Blue Sky Wilderness’ – or The Quiet Side,
I’M HONOURED AND THRILLED to announce that backpacker and author Chris Townsend has agreed to relaunch two of his books through my publishing imprint, the Enchanted Rock Press. The first of these books will be High Summer, to be released early this summer, 2024. I first came across Chris in 1988 when I
I’VE BEEN FORTUNATE to have experienced a number of wildlife encounters this year. Arguably the most memorable occurred in late July right at the end of a short weekend’s backpacking. I’d camped in a rugged away-from-it spot and was heading back to one of Colorado’s busiest mountain trails: the Mount Bierstadt Trail. The only
THE SUN DISAPPEARED behind the mountain at three twenty-seven in the afternoon. Prior to that, the day had been gloriously benign. There’d been warmth to bask in. Sunlight had dazzled off fresh snow. The ice that had built up inside my tent during the previous night had completely thawed away. Thermals had been removed, sleeves
AUTUMN IN COLORADO’S high country is often the sunniest time of year. This autumn was no exception. It began at dawn on September 16th, the first day that the closest fourteener to Denver bore its new ‘Blue Sky’ name. After five days of clouds, rain, sleet and snow the sun finally climbed into a sky
A FEW PHOTOS from a walk on Friday: a saunter away from Guanella Pass into solitude. The walk’s aim was to start from Guanella Pass (often an exceptionally busy place), wander south to the far-less visited Geneva Mountain, then head back north up the center of the broad valley of Scott Gomer Creek. The delights
A Walk Into Solitude Read More »
OVER THE PAST twenty years I’ve enjoyed some truly special moments on and around the mountain now known as Mount Blue Sky. But few of the many previous visits were more special or more meaningful than Saturday’s. This wasn’t only another walk to a treasured place… it was also a celebration. As readers of this
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IT HAPPENED LAST Friday – at roughly 3 p.m. on September 15th: the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (the federal board within the U.S. Department of Interior which has the final say on the renaming of all natural features on public lands) voted to rename the closest fourteener to Denver. The mountain that probably went
Mount Blue Sky – a mountain renamed Read More »
IF YOU VISIT the same wild place often enough your perception of it will inevitably change. On a first visit, its essential characteristics and nature might seem clear – and possibly even ‘fixed’. After all, you’ve just seen and experienced it as it is. How could it ever be anything else? But after a fifth
A Cauldron of Swirling Cloud Read More »